December 7, 2021
1. Max wants Buck
When you’ve just signed a guy to the biggest per-year deal in baseball history, you might need to listen to whatever he says.
And what’s one more buck on top of the $130 million pile?
Beyond Showalter, the Mets’ managerial search evolved into the actual interview stage today, so over the next week this might be the only real baseball news item worth watching. From mlb.com:
“Brad Ausmus, Joe Espada, Matt Quatraro and Buck Showalter are all expected to receive interviews for the Mets’ open managerial job, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation.”
And if indeed it’s Buck Showalter, it’ll be about time he returned to New York — a Seinfeld reunion for the occasion might just be called for:
2. David Ortiz and other MLB stars had a home run derby in the Dominican Republic last night
It was a meeting of the biggest stars in Dominican baseball (and some from Cuba and Venezuela), for the second annual “Legends Day” in Santo Domingo, as a fundraiser for the David Ortiz Foundation.
From mlb.com:
“Red Sox legend Ortiz, donning a custom New England Patriots jersey with the number 34 and “Big Papi” on the back, was joined by the three Dominican former players enshrined in the Hall of Fame: Juan Marichal, Pedro Martínez and Vladimir Guerrero Sr. Also on hand were fellow countrymen and former Major Leaguers Adrián Beltré, Aramis Ramírez, Carlos Gómez and Julián Tavárez, accompanied by distinguished former Venezuelan players Bobby Abreu, Luis Sojo, Edgardo Alfonzo, Melvin Mora and Endy Chávez.”
And the winner? William Contreras (brother of Willson), taking home the giant trophy:
Here’s the full article on mlb.com, with videos of the entire event:
3. And Pedro Martinez signed Juan Soto’s jersey at the legends event
A Pedro Martinez jersey, of course.
4. Speaking of legends: The vintage baseball photo of the day
Bet you didn’t expect to see Larry Bird in a baseball uniform today, did you? And a happy 65th birthday:
5. An interesting little story from Tom Glavine, on David Cone’s new podcast
6. Rays first baseman Ji-Man Choi pitched at a charity game in South Korea
With a little comment to his fellow cult-hero-fan-favorite buddy on Instagram:
“Hay brett what do you think??”
And he batted right-handed, too:
7. The Yankees are pursuing star Japanese player Seiya Suzuki
Doesn’t sound like he’s Shohei Ohtani 2.0, but a solid overall player from a country that tends to send over far more pitchers than batters.
From the NY Post article (link below):
8. Tim Kurkjian wins the Career Excellence Award
If you’re like me, he’s always been the standout favorite on Baseball Tonight over the years — and a much-deserved honor:
From the article (link below):
“He will be honored with the award that is presented annually to a sportswriter ‘for meritorious contributions to baseball writing’ during the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s induction weekend July 22–25 in Cooperstown, N.Y.”
9. And Vladdy wins the no-doubter award of the year
Being named Canada’s best baseball player. Though to be fair, Joey Votto did have a great year too, but still — one of the all-time obvious awards there can be.
10. Clint Frazier is hitting home runs at virtual Wrigley Field
After signing a one-year deal with the Cubs last week.
11. Just announced, Gabriel Iglesias will have a comedy set at Dodger Stadium next year
Is this baseball news? It was posted on the Dodgers official Twitter account, so it’s counting as baseball news. And you know you’ve truly made it big (“fluffy”) when you perform at a baseball stadium.
12. And lastly, a video of a guy chugging a beer, spinning in a circle twelve times, and then… (no spoilers)
